caribbean

The Pond Bay development is on target to have 26 of its beachfront cottages open by Christmas. “Sales are being made,” said Bill Orwig, Director of Sales.  “We will host our first owners for the holidays.”

Marketing activity has picked up since Pond Bay centralized its sales effort at the resort’s Chocolate Hole site.

A three-bedroom, 3 1/2-bath, 2,200-square foot beachfront cottage is open for visitors daily.  "We moved (from the Marketplace shopping center), and had much more walk-in activity,” Orwig said. Promotional signage on the South Shore road has helped alert people interested in touring the site and seeing the model.

The announcement that Auberge Resorts Management Company will be overseeing Pond Bay has also helped build interest.  The discerning readers of Travel + Leisure, one of the most respected travel magazines in the world, recently voted Auberge Resorts among the world's best. Its Inn at Palmetto Bluff was awarded "Best Resort in the Continental U.S. and Canada" and Esperanza Resort, a luxury resort in Mexico was named "Best Hotel Spa in Mexico" in the 14th annual World's Best Awards readers' survey. This has given many people confidence that Pond Bay will be a world class operation.

By December, the developers hope to have resort amenities operating, including a restaurant, spa services, and pool.

For more information on Pond Bay, click here.

(This is an advertisement.  Information was supplied by Pond Bay.)

Two weeks in a row, the government has reported the water’s not clean in Cruz Bay, where the ferries arrive.  Who would have imagined?

The Department of Planning and Natural Resources said test results of water quality, issued July 24 and 31, showed that the samples "(did) not meet the water quality standards for swimming or fishing.”  A spokesperson for the department said construction sites, like Grande Bay, may be  – may – contributing to the problem, in addition to lots of recent rainfall which causes runoff from the hills.

None of the other seven St. John beaches tested were found wanting.  They include Great Cruz Bay, Oppenheimer, Hart Bay and “Klain (sic)" Bay.  On St Croix, Rainbow Beach was found to not meet Standards, as was Coki Point on St,. Thomas.

More than 10 years ago, a chance encounter with a villa owner at Fred's night club led   Grasshopper Pickering and his reggae group, Inner Visions, to New England.

The villa owners, John and Katherine Reny, live in Round Pond, Maine when they're not on island.  According to an article in their home town newspaper, the Lincoln County News, the Renys enjoyed the music and invited the group to their house.  Next thing Grasshopper knows, the couple offered to sponsor his band’s CD releases and invited Inner Visions to Maine.

A few house parties up north followed, and then the Damariscotta River Association asked the band to play at its annual fund raising event for conservation  and education programs, the Great Salt Bay Music Festival.  Sunday, Inner Visions made its fourth annual appearance at the event.

“It’s all about future generations and protecting Mother nature for them,” Pickering told the newspaper. “We hope that our own children will return to this area, and to the river we’re helping to preserve.

Besides offering good music, Inner Visions also has a good time. “Mainers come out with a vengeance” during the summer months,” Pickering said. “It’s s real party.”

The latest gasoline price survey by the Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs the price of a regular gallon of gas at E&C in Cruz Bay is $3.119.  In Coral Bay, at the full-service Domino, it’s $3.049. 

Yes, you read that right.  Gas in Coral Bay is cheaper than in Cruz Bay. 

Doesn’t seem to make sense.

More federal stimulus money is on the way to the island.  The Coral Bay Community Council will receive $1.47 million and the Fish Bay Homeowners Association will get $474,000 to be used to combat pollution of the bays and coral reefs caused by runoff from the hills.

The St. John Source said Coral Bay’s Community Council will use the money to repair roadways and storm drains while Fish Bay will see installation of culverts, swales and a retaining wall.

For the fourth year in a row, St. John’s Inner Visions is taking its reggae to the coastal Maine village of Damariscotta, an hour and fifteen minutes northwest of Portland. 

Why is a bunch of guys in dreadlocks playing music with an infectious beat there?  The Damariscotta River Association, in a statement, said the band is back “by popular demand …(to) shake it up with their electrifying vibe, infectious rhythms, and tight vocal harmonies.” Click here to hear a sample of the band’s previous appearances.

Natty B, who owns a CD store in the region, explained, “We don't get much diversity of culture around here. Inner Visions brings something new to us.”

The band is headlining the Great Salt Bay Music festival on Sunday.  The afternoon will feature what the DRA called “Caribbean food and spirits, a fresh oyster bar” and “Alternative energy displays and demonstrations, including the ceremonial “flipping of the switch” for DRA’s new wind generator.

After the Damariscotta concert, Inner Visions continues its summer tour of the U.S. with stops in Woodstock, New York, Asheville, N.C., and Lafayette, La.

They will be given to Members of the Virgin Islands Senate. 

The Daily News says 15 three-year-old GMC Envoys, used by the Police department, will be assigned to the Senators. 

Senate President Louis Hill said the SUVs will be swapped for the lawmakers' current vehicles, 2002 Trailblazers.

Virgin Islands police officers got new cars earlier this year.